Flying out of Syracuse?

[Legend of Odon]

Has anyone flown out of Syracuse NY from eastern ON? If so what airline have you found works out best? Right now it looks like this is a far better/cheaper option than either Pearson or Ottawa.It seems like quite a few CDNs fly out of Buffalo but haven't heard anything about Syracuse.Thanks for all comments!

 

[MouseGirl]

We flew out of Syracuse in March 2005 using Transmeridian Airlines, which has since gone out of business It was a charter airline affiliated with Delta. JetBlue flies out of Syracuse, and their rates look quite good if you book early. They seem to have a pretty good reputation.

We live just outside Ottawa and loved flying out of Syracuse. It's about a three hour drive, and the airport is quite small so you can get in and out of it easily. We are already planning to fly from Syracuse for our next trip in March 2007. I would highly recommend it, and we saved a fortune on airfare.

 

[runner26.2]

friends of ours who live in Kingston flew out of Syracuse on Jet Blue last summer. They were quite happy with the flights etc and would do it again. The only concern, of course, is bad weather getting there in January - February but going at other times of the year likely not a huge risk.

 

[Parkerpooh]

We're from Kingston and have looked into flying out of SYR but Got an ultra cheap ding for Buffalo so we decided to drive the extra 2 hours to fly southwest. We noticed that there are few flights that are direct from SYR. Switching planes with a 2 year old and all of his junk was not an option for us!!! HTH, Jen

 

[siobhan1997]

We always fly out of Syracuse . We love Jetblue!! I book our flights as soon as they are up and available as we travel to FLorida every March break.. We couldn't afford to fly March break from Ottawa.

This year we are flying for $119.99 return plus taxes (very small compared to Canadian taxes) from Syracuse to JFK to Orlando.

For this upcoming March 06 I bought our tickets in July 05 online at Jetblue.

We wouldn't go any other way.

We leave our car at the Quality Inn and they keep it for as long as it needs to be there. This is included in their nightly rate and they have a free shuttle to take us to the airport and back when we return.

 

[FayeW]

We also fly out of Syracuse, and I can't imagine ever paying the outrageous costs to fly out of Ottawa! We've done it twice so far, the first time on Transmeridian which was great. We booked on them again, but they went under 3 weeks before our flight. We ended up booking on JetBlue and they were fantastic. We bought our tickets, and then found out (from Siobhan) that they were offering discounts for affected Transmeridian customers. Even though we had already bought and paid for our tickets, they gave us a credit on the flights. We have $240US to spend on our next trip (Nov/Dec) and I am waiting very impatiently for the flights to be released. We stay at the BW Airport Inn with the park & fly rate. How's the Quality Inn, Siobhan?

 

[Legend of Odon]

Thanks so much for your comments! The more I learn, it sure makes sense to go south to fly south! Not only the price but the convenience make it very appealing.

 

[siobhan1997]

We also fly out of Syracuse, and I can't imagine ever paying the outrageous costs to fly out of Ottawa! We've done it twice so far, the first time on Transmeridian which was great. We booked on them again, but they went under 3 weeks before our flight. We ended up booking on JetBlue and they were fantastic. We bought our tickets, and then found out (from Siobhan) that they were offering discounts for affected Transmeridian customers. Even though we had already bought and paid for our tickets, they gave us a credit on the flights. We have $240US to spend on our next trip (Nov/Dec) and I am waiting very impatiently for the flights to be released. We stay at the BW Airport Inn with the park & fly rate. How's the Quality Inn, Siobhan?

Hi Faye, we like the Quality Inn on Buckley Rd. because of the fact that we can leave our van there without additional charges and take the free shuttle. They just give up a parking sign to put in our window dating the day of our return. Because we go for 16 days to Orlando each year, it is more feasible for us to leave it there. We have used the underground parking at the airport when we went to NYC over Thanksgiving and it was great but at $8.00 a day parking at the hotel is much better. I got a rate of $62.10 at the Quality Inn and for one night it works out great.

 

[pta-mom]

We looked at Syracuse as well and then were told that Rochester was even cheaper....and they were!!! We saved almost another $500 for a family of four. I little longer of a drive but not much. Hope it works!

 

[FayeW]

We looked at Syracuse as well and then were told that Rochester was even cheaper....and they were!!! We saved almost another $500 for a family of four. I little longer of a drive but not much. Hope it works!

I'm intrigued! How far from Syracuse is Rochester, what airline did you fly from there?

 

[Lori-n-NY]

I'm in Syracuse....and I look to fly out of Roch or Albany because the flights are so high priced here.....

There is no non-stop out of SYR

Roch is 90 minutes west of here, straight across the thruway. Very easy to get to. Albany is 120 minutes east of here also on the thruway.

Roch has Air-tran at least one non-stop a day
Albany has Southwest non-stop

Syracuse has Delta, UsAir, United, Continenal, Jetblue, Northwest could be others but not big names. A few charter companies went out of business recently.

If you can catch a good deal with Delta your lucky.
Jetblue runs specials but way to last minute for me.

Do your research and Buf is almost always cheaper. Don't get me wrong, you can catch a good flight out of here but trying to catch it will drive ya nuts...

Example..I'm flying May 4-10 ALB to MCO on Southwest DING special non stop both ways $220.00 total for 2 people

Delta for same days and connection in ATL was $238 FOR ONE PERSON>>>>
($472 two people)

So I'm going to drive the 2 hours to ALB and take Southwest. Even when paying for parking I will still be way ahead.

I have flown many times out of SYR ($200-$250 per person)but remember it is snow capital USA...we had 193 inches last year.

If you want any directions or more infor on local things, just ask.

Lori

 

[Sandy22]

I don't fly but I've taken the Amtrak train to Orlando from Syracuse. There's unlimited parking for $5 at the Amtrak station. Works out really well for those that hate flying.

 

[pta-mom]

I'm intrigued! How far from Syracuse is Rochester, what airline did you fly from there?

Sorry! Busy weekend!! We are flying out of Rochester with a short stop in Philly, on United. We booked thru Expedia and paid around $750 for all of us, round trip. Oh, and the best part for us was that though we are flying into Orlando, we needed to fly out of Tampa on our way back (visiting family) and that was no problem at all!! So happy! Good luck to you!

 

[Hardchargers]

We are from the Kingston area and flew out of Syr. last October.

I didn't want the extra drive involved in flying out of Roc or Buf.

Found a deal from Travelocity.ca out of Syr that I could not pass up. It was actually cheaper than driving down(would have needed to rent a van for this).

Five of us flew for under $1100 CDN(taxes in)

 

[ottawamom]

We flew out of Syracuse the last two times we went to Orlando. Since then, thanks to these boards I've been looking into Southwest out of Albany for our next flight. Dings seem to have the price at $44-$49 each way. Add that up for a family of 5 and its worth the extra two hours of driving (total 5 hrs). The other thing to consider is its a lot more pleasant crossing the border in your car than it is at the airport. This year you won't need a passport to cross in your car but they strongly recommend you have one for flying out of Canada.

 

[FayeW]

I'm willing to drive to Albany, I look at the money we save as if I was being paid by the hour. Five hour drive each way to save a thousand bucks is like being paid $100. per hour. If someone offered me a job for that kind of money I would jump on it! Naturally, I would prefer to fly out of Ottawa, so I applied for a part-time job at a national airline. I've been bitten by the travel bug and I need to fund my addiction!

 

[Legend of Odon]

Ok, I am convinced.....we are going to fly out of Syracuse!! How far in advance do you need to book to get one of the "deals"? Will the prices drop over the next few months or will they go up as the time gets closer?

We are going in Mid August, right now Expedia has a US Airlines flight for just over 1300.00CDN for 5 of us, that seems like such a good deal as it is! Delta is slightly more as is JET BLUE.

I've never booked on line with Expedia, anyone have any difficulties with them compared to booking on line through the airlines own websites??

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[Hardchargers]

As far nas the timing ......who knows.

When I booked our trip last fall I was all prepared to rent a van when I just did a "whatthehell" kind of thing and tried Travelocity.ca. The deal was unbelievable because this was literally inside of 2 weeks before we were leaving. Now that being said, I kept doing a search with the same parameters as I previously used and the price kept on rising as the time got nearer. So I can't really recomend waiting until the last moment.
I guess you just have to decide what price is your "best" price and lock in there....and maybe do not check again

As mentioned above I would try Travelocity.ca. When doing my searches last fall Expedia could not come close to what Travelocity offered. I never had any problems using them.....my 1st time booking online.